Raid the North:
Sun Peaks - August 4-6, 2006

RACE UPDATES

23 teams started at midnight Friday and they are now 6 hours
into the race. The race started with a trek and the majority
of the teams (17 total) still remain on the trek. Team 15
Banff Lodging Co dot com is in the lead and well into the
bike leg. They are being followed by Team 18 Dartnuun (both
through CP 4). Other teams on the bike (past CP 3 only at
this point) are 25 Outdoor Pursuits, 20 Fast Trax / Salomon
and 35 Wild Rose. After the bike leg teams transition to a
short trek to the rappel and then rappel down to Adams Lake
where they start a 37 km paddle.

The course started out by North Barrier Lake with a trek.
Teams had to bushwhack and coast steer (or in this case lake steer) to
CP1. Then it is uphill in the bush to CP2. From CP2 teams
trek downhill over to CP3/TA1. Here they switch to bikes and
begin the ride down to Adams Lake. CP 4 is part way through
the bike and CP5/TA2 is the end of the bike. From CP5/TA2
they have a short trek (mainly roads) to the rappel (CP6).
They then rappel down to the lake where they get in their
canoes and begin a 37 km paddle. CP7/TA3 is the end of the
paddle and teams switch back to biking. They now bike over
towards Sun Peaks.

At CP 8 teams have a choice to take the advanced course
which is more biking or regular course where they would switch to a trek.
Advanced course continues bike and has unmanned CPs 8a and 8b to
CP8c/TA5 where they switch to trek. From their they go up Mt Morrisey to
CP9 and trek to CP10 which is only a short distance away from the finish
line. For regular course they have a TA at CP8 and switch to the trek
heading over to CP9 as listed previously.

Current update: Team 15 Banff Lodging Co dot com has now
left CP5/TA2
and is trekking towards the rappel (as of 6:29am). Teams 18
Dartnuun
(CP4 at 5:44), 20 Fast Trax/ Salomon (CP 4 at 6:14) and 35
Wildrose (CP 4 at 6:23) are close behind. Team 25 Outdoor
pursuit has also started the bike leg leaving CP3/TA1 at
5:34 am.

Team 27 Rocket Sturgeons is just approaching CP1 in the trek
now (as of 6:43am) all other teams have cleared CP1.

All but 2 teams have now made it to the bike section. The
lead teams are now on the paddle with team 15 Banff Lodging
Co dot com still in first place. Following are teams 18
DARTnuun and 35 Wild Rose.

The teams still on the trek are team 27 Rocket Sturgeons who
have now
cleared CP1 but still have not made CP2 and team 30 Stadium
Dogs who
have passed CP2 and are expected into CP3/TA1 at anytime.

Raid the North Sun Peaks Race Update Saturday 11:45 am

We are now almost 12 hours into the 36 hour Raid the North
race at Sun
Peaks BC and all of the 23 entered teams still remain on
course. The top teams have been setting a fast pace with
team #15 Banff Lodging Co dot com still leading the pack and
team #18 DARTnuun close behind. Currently nine teams have
passed through CP6 which is the rappel to the canoes and are
somewhere on the 37 km paddle down Adams Lake. All of the
teams have now completed the first trekking section which
started at North Barriere Lake and was approximately 17 km
(both off road and on road combined). The rest of the teams
are spread-out on the first bike section climbing from East
Barriere Lake up to CP4 at South Barriere Lake and then
heading down to CP5/TA2 at Adams Lake or trekking from
CP5/TA2 to the rappel at CP6.

Following the paddle teams will head-out on the bike again
and at CP 8 teams will have to make the decision on taking the advanced
option and continuing with more biking followed by a trek or selecting
the regular course and completing the race with a trek. It
is expected that the lead teams will opt for the advanced
course and top finishing times could be close to 24 hours.

The team from farthest away, team #28 SART from Singapore is
racing mid pack and is now on the over half way through the bike
section. At the back of the pack is team #27 Rocket Sturgeons who had some
route finding difficulties to CP1 but are now moving at a good pace.

I just heard over the radio that the top teams are finishing
up the
paddle which is a good 3 hours before our time estimates!
That means
that we might see some teams finishing in under 24 hours if
the current pace holds. I'll keep you posted as I get more
information from CP7/TA3 which is the end of the canoe
paddle.

12:45 update: Two teams have just completed the paddle -
team 15 started the bike (cleared CP7/TA3) at 12:15 and were
followed closely by team 18 at 12:30. Teams might cross the
finish line as early as 9-10 pm!!

14:00
update: Top teams are burning up the course at the 36 hour
Raid the North at Sun Peaks, BC. As of 1:45 pm the top two
teams had completed the paddle section and were out on the
second bike section of the course. Team #15 Banff Lodging Co
dot com are still in the lead having left CP7/TA3 at 12:15
pm but team #18 DARTnuun has been gaining time on them and
was only 15 minutes behind. In third place at the start of
the paddle was team #35 Wild Rose however they have not yet
completed the paddle. Teams #20 Fast Trax/Salomon, #22 Helly
Hansen, #26 Pure, #32 The Big Fish and #34 Whitelight
Adventures all started the paddle within 30 minutes of each
other but over an hour back of #35 Wildrose and should be
arriving at CP7/TA3 in the next few hours.

Team #27 Rocket Sturgeons moved from the back of pack when
they passed
team #33 Unsanctioned on the first bike section. Currently
all but three teams have completed the first bike section
and the majority of teams are out on Adams Lake enjoying
scenic views and great paddling weather. With the current
times organizers expect top teams to cross the finish line
around 9-10 pm this evening and hope to see many of the
teams make it through by the Sunday noon cut-off time.

15:00 update: Two teams are currently on the ropes. Three
teams still have to finish the first bike. I do not have a
rope time for team 25 but we do believe that they are
through the ropes and on the paddle. Three teams are now off
the water.

17:20 update: Lots of teams off the paddle and starting the
nice 21 km uphill on the bike to CP8. Team 27 has still not
reached CP5/TA2 but did radio in and they are ok just
slightly navigationally challenged. They estimate their time
to CP5 another 2 hours or so. Team 30 is on the rappel right
now and team 33 is trekking over to the rappel. The top 2
teams have still not hit our next manned CP (CP8C/TA5). We
expect an early finish based on the progress of the top 2
teams.

Wow! Raid the North winners Banff Lodging Co dot com and
second place
finishers DARTnuun had an amazing race. Flying off from the
start
both teams made it difficult for the race organizers to keep
up with
the teams. Throughout the race, these two teams maintained
an
amazing pace. Course designer Pat Chan, arrived almost
exactly at the same time as Banff Lodging Co dot com, at one
checkpoint waving them into the proper place.

Team 35 wildrose just passed through TA CP8C/TA5 and is
heading onto
the last trek section

Team 27 just started the rappel and teams 30 and 33 are out
on the
paddle. All other teams are off the paddle and either at
CP7/TA3 are
biking towards CP8. There are 4 teams on the advanced
course now (3
biking and 1 onto the trek).

21:06 update: Wild rose team 35 just called in on the radio
that they passed a bear and a cub on the way to CP9. They
have not yet reached CP9 but will be their shortly. That
means that they should be crossing the finish line in an
hour or less.

2:00 update:
The top 5 teams have now crossed the finish lineMany of the
teams coming into CP8/TA4 are opting for the regular course
so their next CP is CP9 (they don't hit CP8C). Team 33 had a
team mate experiencing hypothermia so they pulled off the
paddle and went to a residence to warm their team mate up.
At 1:20 am they decided to get back into the boats and
complete the paddle. So all 23 teams are still in the race.

3:00 update: Team 27 is still on the paddle and needs
to hit CP7 by 0400 to continue on the course. A bunch of
teams are on
their way down the mtn to the finish line.

5:11 update:
I just heard on the radio that team 17 CORE has withdrawn
from the course at CP8. Team 27 did not complete the paddle
before 0400 and will end their race at CP7.

8:45 update:
Only 4 teams left on the course. Two are expected in within
the hour. Team 33 just left CP8 on the trek so it is
questionable on if they will be able to finish by the noon
cut-off.